A Couple Bought A House Built In The 40’s. What They Found Hidden In The Basement Left Them Open-mouthed

A young couple bought a house built in the 1940’s. When they started remodeling the basement, they made a shocking discovery.

From what the couple knew, the house was built in the late 1940’s and had multiple owners over the last couple of decades.

hidden treasure
When they started remodeling the basement, the current owners were scared stiff of what they might find inside – Source: Imgur/ branik12

The current owners started remodeling the house by themselves, bit by bit.

Once they finished working on the first and second floors, they switched their attention to the basement.

basement walls
Some random writings and drawings found on the basement walls – Source: Imgur/ branik12

The basement had never been reconditioned by previous owners, so it was in pretty bad shape. Truth be told, the current owners didn’t have enough money for a complete overhaul.

They decided to get it cleaned up first and make it look the best it possibly could, without spending money on a costly full-blown renovation and fancy decorations.

basement walls
Swastikas scratched on the basement walls. Since the house was built in the 1940s, this might be an indication that the previous owners took a liking to the Nazis – Source: Imgur/ branik12

“I am a 35 years old do-it-yourselfer, so I had remodeled everything on the first and second floors when it came time to remodel the basement,” the current owner said.

They got to work and started by slowly peeling the walls back to the bare rock, exposing some strange writings and drawings.

To their surprise, they found swastikas scratched onto the walls – an indication that the original owners might have been Nazi supporters.

But this wasn’t the most startling discovery they made in the basement. There was more.

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The current owners started by removing the basement ceiling – Source: Imgur/ branik12

They took the remodeling further and started removing the basement ceiling.

“There was a good 1/4 inch of dust on the ceiling. We put up plastic to keep the dust out of the rest of the house, then we exposed and patched the air returns first,” the current owner explained.

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They stumbled upon a box hidden in the ceiling – Source: Imgur/ branik12

They started taking the ceiling down in one of the basement’s corners.

Much to their stupefaction, they discovered a box hidden next to a pipe.

hidden box in the ceiling
The house has had multiple owners since the 1940s, but none of them remodeled the basement – Source: Imgur/ branik12

Their hearts started racing, their palms got all clammy and sweaty.

The couple’s anticipation was growing with every waking second. They were scared stiff of what they might find inside the box.

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The current owners took the box outside – Source: Imgur/ branik12

The box was easy to lift and move, but it didn’t seem empty. There was definitely something in it.

The couple decided to take it outside and open it up.

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It was light, but definitely seemed to have something inside. The couple used a toy banana for scale when they took pictures documenting their discovery – Source: Imgur/ branik12

They kept waddling around it, praying not to find anything gruesome inside.

“We took the box outside. It had something inside, but nothing heavy like coins or gold bars. I thought I might get lucky, though,” one of the owners recalled.

hidden treasure
The string comes off – Source: Imgur/ branik12

The couple expected to come across some old recipes or a bunch of other vintage items.

“We were starting to guess a lot at this point. My wife thought we would find some old recipes, I thought we might discover some vintage sports cards.”

hidden box
After anxiously fretting over the box’s contents for minutes on end, the family finally got the courage to open it – Source: Imgur/ branik12

They finally mustered the courage to look inside the box and discovered an old newspaper.

They examined it carefully and found that, apart from the fact that it was indeed old, there was nothing special about it.

old newspaper
The newspaper that was found inside – Source: Imgur/ branik12

It might have been placed in the box to help preserve some other items of greater significance or value.

old newspaper
The newspaper was dated March 25, 1951 – Source: Imgur/ branik12

The newspaper was dated March 25, 1951, which indicated that the box was hidden in the basement ceiling by the original owner of the house.

“The date on the newspaper must be near the time the box was hidden,” the owners said.

hidden box
What was found underneath the newspaper – Source: Imgur/ branik12

Underneath the newspaper, the couple found a strange package wrapped in what looked like wax paper.

They ripped the wrapping paper up to discover three smaller packages.

hidden treasure
Source: Imgur/ branik12

The packages had 20, 50 and 100-dollar-bills, all of them in mint condition.

At this point, the couple started to flip out.

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This was found in the hidden box – Source: Imgur/ branik12

They were convinced someone was playing a cruel practical joke on them and they even started looking for hidden cameras around the house.

“We were freaking out. This doesn’t happen to us! What do we do? Where are the cameras?”

hidden treasure
Twenty-dollar banknotes from one of the packages found in the hidden box – Source: Imgur/ branik12

“We didn’t get a picture opening each package, our excitement overwhelmed us,” the couple admitted.

“We spent hours making an inventory of everything we found in the box. We decided that we needed to have the special bills appraised and talk to a lawyer about how to proceed.”

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Full contents revealed – Source: Imgur/ branik12

All the banknotes found in the box were from 1928-1934. Some of them were very rare – a couple of brown notes, a gold certificate and some star bills.

The couple ended up with $23,000 dollars on their hands. Back in 1951, when the box was presumably hidden in the basement ceiling, $23,000 had the same value $200,000 would have today.

“This was a wild ride for us. We are boring people and have been dumping our extra money to pay off our mortgage and that is where this money will go too,” the couple said.

rare dollar bills
Fifty-dollar banknotes and a couple of rare $100 bills found in the box – Source: Imgur/ branik12

Once they decided what they were going to do with the money, the couple went on with their lives.

But their luck did not run out then and there. Little did they know that there was another hidden treasure in their basement.

hidden box
The second box found hidden in the basement ceiling – Source: Imgur/ branik12

One day, when his wife was at work, the man of the house went down to the basement to continue working on the ceiling.

He couldn’t believe his eyes when he found a second box, identical to the first one, hidden in a similar way.

He called his wife immediately and tried to keep himself busy until she got back home.

hidden box
It was identical to the first one – Source: Imgur/ branik12

He set the box aside and finished tearing down the ceiling. He had to know if this second box was the last one hidden out there. And it was, indeed.

He dusted off the box and waited for his wife to return.

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They looked inside the second box – Source: Imgur/ branik12

“I sat and stared at it, and cleaned my precious for hours while waiting for my wife to get home,” the man said.

When they finally opened the second box, hours later, they found another newspaper on top. It was from the same year, 1951.

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The second box was filled to the brim with cash – Source: Imgur/ branik12

The second box was completely stacked with 20-dollar bills. This time around, the couple pulled themselves together at once and contacted an estate lawyer about the legal aspects.

Upon investigating the matter closely, they found out that the original owner of the house had died in the 1960’s and had no descendants. So, all the money hidden in the basement ceiling was legally theirs.

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Full contents of the second box exposed – Source: Imgur/ branik12

“All the money is in the bank and will be paid toward our mortgage, minus taxes. We seriously had to make an appointment and sit there and watch them count it all out. It was great fun,” the couple said.

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The couple sold the rare bills and ended up with a total of $45,000 dollars – Source: Imgur/ branik12

Thanks to the hidden treasures in their basement ceiling, the couple’s mortgage will be entirely paid off by next year.

They believe everyone reaps what they sow: “We are generally good people. We try to help others when we can. Acts of kindness go a long way.”

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